Let’s begin with the mathematical reality. At midseason, the Cowboys have demonstrated enough power on both sides of the ball to suggest they could finish the season with an 11-game winning streak (matching the mark set in 2016) and a 15-2 record.
And then open the playoffs at 8-9 Atlanta.
Hey, I merely said it’s possible. If you’re watching these games, doesn’t it appear that the entire NFC belongs to the Cowboys and Eagles and that, for Dallas’ sake, one hopes it all comes down to Dec. 24 at 3:25 p.m. at AT&T Stadium?
But it might not. As sound as this Dallas team has shown itself to be, Cowboys fans are reduced to scoreboard watching, hoping for that Eagles stumble that would put all the marbles — NFC East title, No. 1 seed, first-round bye, home playoff games — on the table for Christmas Eve. And this week that means cheering Thursday night for the worst team in the AFC (Houston) to beat the only undefeated team in the NFL.
Meanwhile, the Cowboys must keep piling up the wins as they did Sunday, in this case resorting to last year’s method of simply outscoring the visitors from Chicago 49-29. If you’re concerned about the Bears’ 240 yards rushing and 5.6 average per carry, that’s understandable. Dallas’ lone defensive weakness — actually the biggest weakness on the entire team when you consider points produced Sunday and this club’s excellent special teams — is its run defense.
The Cowboys rank 24th against the run in total yards and 20th in yards per carry. Is that a real problem? I don’t know. The Cowboys give up 4.7 yards per run and the Eagles surrender 5.2. Doesn’t seem to be a problem for Philly, as long as that defense keeps producing more than two takeaways per game.
Mostly what we need to learn from this 6-2 start is that it is not the same as last year’s 6-2 start. The Cowboys won four straight without Dak Prescott before losing at Philadelphia. The Cowboys had by far their biggest offensive showcase Sunday without Zeke Elliott. For sure, these are not the 2016 Cowboys, a team that stunned the league with sensational production from two rookies in the backfield.
This team manages to stun us because it plays so well without them. Tony Pollard’s three-touchdown, 131-yard game on limited carries Sunday was essentially Jalen Brunson’s three-game performance without Luka Doncic against Utah last spring. The price tag on Pollard as an unrestricted free agent this offseason just went way up, and maybe the Cowboys will fool themselves as the Mavericks did into thinking the player loves it here and doesn’t want the opportunity to take the spotlight elsewhere.
“He’s talented as hell and he’s not just another back for us,’’ Prescott said. “He’s a playmaker and a weapon we will continue to use.’’
Pollard’s future here is an issue for another time.
The point is that Micah Parsons and Trevon Diggs and Pollard and CeeDee Lamb and this kind of crazy wealth of tight ends make this a far, far different team from the one Dak and Zeke led to that 11-game streak and 13-3 record six years ago.
With the one exception noted about the run defense, this team appears to be loaded and the offense should be poised to take off following next weekend’s welcome bye. Are we fooling ourselves by not understanding this team has plenty of road work left to do?
Of the NFL’s 17 teams with records of .500 or better, Dallas is the only one to have played five home games. That means five road trips remain, and four of them (sorry, Jacksonville) pose some degree of difficulty.
At Green Bay on Nov. 13 feels challenging even with the Packers’ limitations at wide receiver. They at least covered the spread and kept it respectable Sunday night in Buffalo.
At Minnesota on Nov. 20 offers the chance to see what the 6-1 Vikings, undefeated at home, are really all about. Like the Giants, they haven’t done much that impresses you besides collecting wins in close games.
At Tennessee on Dec. 29 feels like the ultimate trap, coming just five days after an Eagles game that will have captured everyone’s attention for the entire month of December. A team with a weak run defense going against Derrick Henry, who just had a pretty fair October (563 yards rushing in four games), feels like more than a test.
At Washington on Jan. 7-8 to wrap things up? Should I mention the Commanders’ three-game win streak and that many weird things have happened when the Cowboys go to FedEx Field?
Save that for another day.
If you will ignore that with the 17-game schedule, midseason actually comes at halftime in Green Bay. Consider this the midseason bye week. The Cowboys are not quite on top of the football world. But they can see it from here, and they are very familiar with the team that stands in their way.
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